search_by_keyword

io.github.dhamma-seeker/tripitaka-mcp · Verify this server

Keyword search across the Pāli Tipiṭaka (trigram word-similarity). Searches the configured enabled language(s) on the server. Filterable by pitaka and translation edition. 💡 **Hints for the AI client:** The system's canonical reference is Romanised Pāli (from SuttaCentral). If the user asks in a disabled or unsupported language, translate the keyword to **Romanised Pāli (preferred) or English** before calling this tool — e.g. "suffering" → "dukkha", "mindfulness of breathing" → "ānāpānassati". See the server instructions for the enabled language set. 🔍 **Pick the right search tool for the question shape:** - **Term lookup (exact word appearances)** — e.g. "occurrences of `ānāpānassati`": this tool is best (trigram nails the exact word). - **Concept search ("discourses about X")** — e.g. "discourses about mindfulness of breathing": **use `search_hybrid` instead.** Canonical Pāli has two quirks that hurt keyword search for concepts: • Section headings (`Ānāpānapabba`) often use a different word than the teaching body, which uses verb forms (`assasati`, `passasati`, `dīghaṁ`, `rassaṁ`). E.g. DN22's Ānāpānapabba has 16 segments but the word `ānāpāna` appears in only 2 (header + footer) — the actual teaching segments won't match. • Stock phrases (e.g. `So satova assasati, satova passasati`) recur in 10+ suttas, so a keyword query ranks broadly and won't pinpoint the canonical reference. - **General keyword survey** — set `limit≥30` and filter client-side, or call multiple related forms (root verb + noun + compound).